Quoting David Peterson <[log in to unmask]>:
> In a message dated 9/28/01 1:47:18 PM, [log in to unmask]
> writes:
>
> << I have a question for you: is it true that Southern Californians
> lower [I] before /l/ in "milk" (> [mElk])? I've heard tell that
> that's the case, but it was entirely anecdotal, so suspect to
> questioning. (My informant tells me that she was trying to persuade
> a Southern Californian that Southern Californians do, indeed, have
> distinct accents just like every other human being, a fact which this >
> Californian apparently held in doubt.) >>
[...]
> As to your question, it's true, I assumed it was true for all
> English speakers (especially children), but its environment seems
> to be incredibly limited.
That's interesting. AFAIK, far from being universal, it's
geographically isolated to that small but well-known corner
of the country. Are there any examples from outside the US?
I know that a lot of features of Southern US English can be
traced at least in part to dialects back in Great Britain
(nonrhoticity, e.g.), but that seems unlikely in a place
like California where so many dialects have blended together.
More likely, IMO it's a local innovation.
==============================
Thomas Wier <[log in to unmask]>
"If a man demands justice, not merely as an abstract concept,
but in setting up the life of a society, and if he holds, further,
that within that society (however defined) all men have equal rights,
then the odds are that his views, sooner rather than later, are going
to set something or someone on fire." Peter Green, in _From Alexander
to Actium_, on Spartan king Cleomenes III